What happens to offspring when parents are inbred, old or had a poor start in life? : Interactions between multiple causes of parental effects

Parental effects on offspring performance have been attributed to many factors such as parental age, size, and condition. However, we know little about how these different parental characteristics interact to determine parental effects, or the extent to which their effect on offspring depends on either the sex of the parent or that of the offspring. Here we experimentally tested for main effects of variation in parents' early diet and inbreeding levels, as well as effects of parental age, and for potential interactive effects of these three factors on key aspects of offspring development in the mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). Older mothers produced offspring that were significantly smaller at birth. This negative effect of maternal age on offspring size was still evident at maturation as older mothers had smaller daughters, but not smaller sons. The daughters of older mothers did, however, reach maturity sooner. Paternal age did not affect offspring body size, but it had a complex ef...

亲本对子代表现的影响可归因于诸多因素，例如亲本年龄、体型与生理状态。然而，目前学界对这些不同的亲本特征如何相互作用以调控亲本效应（parental effects），以及这些特征对子代的影响程度是否依赖于亲本自身或子代的性别，仍知之甚少。本研究以霍氏食蚊鱼（Gambusia holbrooki）为实验对象，通过实验探究了亲本早期日粮、近交水平的变异以及亲本年龄的主效应，并检验了这三类因素对子代发育关键环节的潜在交互效应。研究结果显示，高龄母本所产的子代在出生时体型显著更小。母本年龄对子代体型的这种负面影响在子代性成熟时依然存在：高龄母本的雌性子代体型更小，但雄性子代体型无显著差异。不过，高龄母本的雌性子代性成熟时间更早。父本年龄对子代体型无显著影响，但该因素存在复杂的效...